Baldur’s Gate 3 has plenty of awesome characters to explore the massive world with, but one of the most popular is Gale. He’s one powerful wizard and has an overwhelming amount of options when it comes to progression. You’ll want to know the optimal paths to take as he levels up, making sure to choose the right spells, subclasses, and feats, so here are the best Gale builds in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Best Gale Builds in Baldur’s Gate 3
5. Gale Enchantment Build
Key Spells
- Sleep
- Tasha’s Hideous Laughter
- Crown of Madness
- Fear
- Dominate Person
Best Feat
- War Caster: This allows you to gain an advantage on Saving Throws, which will keep you concentrating on the spell. The longer you concentrate on the spell, the longer the spell effect, and we want duration above all else with this build.
The idea with this build is to make your enemies either fight for you or not at all. You access a lot of these spells early on, and they can be used to turn the tide extremely quickly. Rendering an enemy without a weapon, asleep on the floor, or fighting on your side can make some of the tougher battles in the game trivial.
With this Gale build, you won’t be only confusing enemies but destroying them, too. Once you hit Level 6, you unlock the ability to cast Disintegrate, which deals 50-100 damage. It can take out bosses in the blink of an eye.
4. Gale Conjuration Build
Key Spells
- Conjure Minor Elemental
- Conjure Elemental
- Evard’s Black Tentacles
- Banishment
- Create Undead
Best Feat
- Spell Sniper: Having this Feat with us will require one less roll point to commit a critical hit. With multiple sources of damage at play, such as Elementals and Evard’s Black Tentacles at play, we want to buff this as high as possible.
This option for a Gale build turns the Wizard into an army. At any given time, he can summon a variety of different creatures to come to his side. Apart from that, he can ruin an enemy’s side of the battlefield by using Evard’s Black Tentacles. Using this build lets Gale deal damage consistently between turns, using spells like Evard’s Black Tenacles, as well as high-level spells like Cloudkill.
Using your Elementals is a key here. You effectively have a 5th party member that can deal some impressive damage on its own. Most of the great spells in this build are available early on, so you don’t need to wait all that long before Gale is a master of Conjuration.
3. Gale Transmutation Build
Key Spells
- Disguise Self
- Stoneskin
- Fly
- Gaseous Form
- Polymorph
Best Feat
- Lucky: This Feat is important for one crucial reason. Whether it’s staying in disguise or maintaining an enemy in sheep form, we need to have some good luck to keep hitting those rolls, and the three additional luck points this Feat gives after every rest can be a game-changer in the longer and more challenging fights in the game.
Making Gale into a Transmutation specialist means you’re fully OK with tweaking the rules of the game. You can use spells to change size, transform enemies into harmless sheep, and even turn yourself into gas and squeeze through small crevices found throughout the world. In combat, the transmutation build is incredibly useful. Abilities like Polymorph can render a terrifying beast useless in a single turn.
In addition, skills like Fly can let Gale get to impossible-to-reach places and sit comfortably above, manipulating the battlefield in the process. Patience is the name of the game with this build. You’ll be preparing a setup to work rather than firing off a super damaging spell from the get-go. Many of this build’s abilities can let you avoid combat altogether, so it’s great for those who like to get through the game with little conflict outside of the mandatory story ones.
2. Gale Illusion Build
Key Spells
- See Invisibility (Action)
- Blur
- Greater Invisibility
- Phantasmal Killer
- Seeming
Best Feat
- Magic Initiate — Wizard: To make this build as effective as possible, we want to take this Feat with us because of the ability to cast two cantrips at all times. Cantrips come in multiple varieties, and with two, you can easily mix them with your invisibility to create some very damaging situations for your enemies.
The Illusion build is all about tricking the enemy and using their own mind against them. It’s all done while keeping Gale and the party safe during a fight. Using Illusion spells is incredibly useful and can be used to disguise your entire party, which will allow Gale and company to walk through several areas in the main quest without having to worry about combat.
In addition, being able to use See Invisibility can help Gale through some very tough fights, especially early on against Aunt Ethel. Illusion spells can do a great deal of damage. Phantasmal Killer does heavy damage in between turns. Turning Gale invisible will allow him to get to perfect vantage points without taking damage, and that goes for each member of your party, too. This is definitely the best support build, but it’s still a huge benefit in combat and exploring.
1. Gale Evocation Build
Key Spells
- Scorching Ray
- Fireball
- Ice Storm
- Wall of Ice
- Sunbeam
Best Feat
- Elemental Adept: This Feat will allow you to completely bypass resistance on an enemy when using a spell. For example, if you choose Elemental Adept: Cold, you’ll be able to do damage to enemies with cold resistance, ignoring their resistance completely.
Evocation builds are the most fun in the game for one reason: AoE damage. Not only can spells in this class deal damage in a huge area, but you can also hit multiple widespread enemies with spells like Scorching Ray. Once you hit Level 3, things really start to open up with the Evocation build. Combos can be set up to devastate massive groups of enemies instantly. For example, Using Ice Storm to freeze enemies, followed by Fireball, and finishing off with Lightning Bolt will destroy anything in your path.
You might need another character to help you here. However, the result is the enemy freezing, then the area turning to water and then shocking a massive area where the water is. Expect Gale to be the MVP of the party with this build. Late-level spells like Chain Lightning are incredible for dealing damage really fast as it travels through multiple enemies at once.
Those are the best Gale builds in Baldur’s Gate 3. They’re just a sampling of what you can do with him. You can tweak these setups however you like and still get great results. For more information on character builds and guides, check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 guides.
